Early Sunday morning in the cool desert air at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, Scaled Composites' WhiteKnightTwo aircraft took to the sky for its maiden flight. WhiteKnightTwo (for those who don't follow this blog) is the craft designed to carry SpaceShipTwo - the successor to Ansari X PRIZE winner SpaceShipOne - to launch altitude.

According to Leonard David of Space.com, Virgin Galactic already has two of these aircraft ordered to carry as many as five SpaceShipTwo rockets.

Many congratulations to the Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic on this historic flight. The X PRIZE Foundation salutes you in carrying the Ansari X PRIZE legacy.